Keane’s second multi-goal game of the season helped the Galaxy snap a two-match losing streak.

The Galaxy are 7-10-2 on the season for 23 points. That moves them to fifth place in the Western Conference, ahead of both Colorado and Chivas USA.

Keane scored on a penalty kick in the 24th minute after Chicago defender Jalil Anibaba blocked a pass with his right hand at the edge of the penalty area.

He beat goalkeeper Sean Johnson again in the 78th minute, making the most of midfielder Landon Donovan’s pinpoint pass. Donovan’s feed allowed Keane to break open on the left side.

Keane celebrated the second score with a pair of somersaults.

“To come out and grind this win away was great,” Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders said. “We took the positives from those negatives and turned them into a win here.”

The Fire (8-6-4) managed only three shots, all in the second half, as Saunders collected his third shutout of the season. Saunders made his best save on Chris Rolfe’s low shot about a minute before Keane’s last goal. Galaxy star David Beckham served a one-game suspension, imposed by the league office for kicking two balls at San Jose’s Sam Cronin and subsequent involvement in a postgame scuffle with Cronin and other San Jose players on June 30. He also missed the Galaxy’s match with Philadelphia on Wednesday because of the yellow cards awarded on the play.

“I think we played well,” Keane said. “We didn’t give them too many chances to score. I think they maybe had one chance and Josh pulled off a good save. Apart from that, I don’t think they had too many chances and I think we deserved to win the game.”

Galaxy coach Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that lost 2-1 at home to Philadelphia on July 4. Sean Franklin, Michael Stephens and Chad Barrett each returned to the starting lineup in place of Donovan, Omar Gonzalez and Mike Magee, all of whom started the game on the bench.

“We had three good games in a row and then we had a couple of games where we played well but ended up losing. That was really frustrating and disappointing but our mentality was great coming here,” Donovan said.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.